Duke's Allen welcomes Deacs

DURHAM — Grayson Allen’s final home game against Wake Forest comes Saturday.

He probably wishes the Demon Deacons visited more often than once a season.

The senior guard has put together several notable performances against Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

As a freshman in 2015, he had a breakout 27-point effort in early March.

“I got hot and Coach (Mike Krzyzewski) left me in there,” Allen said Friday when asked about his success against Wake Forest.

In Duke’s previous 28 games that season, he had exceeded 10 points only once, while he didn’t get off the bench in four of the games during his first season. His 24 minutes that night were a season-high mark, with the next-closest coming with 21 minutes in the national championship game several weeks later.

He followed that the next two seasons with 27 points and 11 points in home outings against Wake Forest — the latter of those resulting in the guard’s career-high six steals.

In the past two matchups in Winston-Salem, he poured in 24 and 19 points.

Allen said the Demon Deacons guards like to play at a brisk pace and that’s similar to his preference.

“They play with their guards and they play off dribble penetration and that’s also how I like to play,” he said. “They like to push the ball. I want to push the ball, so maybe that flows right into it.”

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